Research Question: What impact do Standardized testing have on graduation rates and stress on students? Author: Taylor Lawson
1. Gawthrop, J. (n.d.). Measuring student achievement. A Study of Standardized Testing & Its Effect on Student Learning, 4-28. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
Summary of Academic Journal: This academic Journal gives information about Standardized testing itself, how they are meant to be unbiased tests designed specially to measure student abilities and are used to determine what type of information and skills to include while making a detailed curriculum for students. The author then goes on to explain how these tests can be beneficial for students, he states that without these standardized tests it may be hard for education to progress, it is a crucial part in the college process and understanding the abilities that students naturally have, also showing what teachers may need to improve on and topics that may need to be focused more on. There are also many cons that come with standardized testing as Gawthrop states in his journal, some include: the tests are believed to be more useful for administrators than for the students, and they only measure academic status and knowledge base rather than the student's ability as a whole. A recurring mention throughout the article is that a large reason why Standardized test are so important is because they measure how well the student is going to succeed in a college, hence why some colleges only accept students with a higher SAT grade in order to ensure that their students are going to succeed and maintain the school's reputation. However there are various ways to show ability and success other than test scores, because colleges like to see an active member of society who is committed to their studies and helping those around them. The University of California, Berkeley, between 1981 and 1990, lowered their admission standards, to comply with affirmative action regulation, which caused controversy that students who were more qualified for admission were not being accepted.
Reaction to Academic Journal: I believed that there was a lot of information about the details behind standardized testing which is the needed basis for my research. In order to understand the graduation rates and various other effects on students I must first understand what the controversies are about these kinds of tests and the information to back the arguments up.
2. Robinson, G. (2015, October 30). Nyc schools that skip standardized tests have higher graduation rates. The Hechinger Report. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
Summary of Newspaper Article: Students in New York that are getting out of taking the 5 mandatory standardized tests to graduate are having more success with graduations rates, especially for English Language Learns and special education students. Students are becoming engaged in what they are learning and by allowing them to find things that interest them, they can apply them to topics that are necessary for graduation. They research math logics, science experiments, topics in history and write research papers and lab reports on things they find interesting rather than just forcing them to learn the same old thing that everyone else is learning.
Reaction to Newspaper Article: I liked the turn of events from this article, especially because I am from New York and know how annoying and unreliable the Regents Exams are, I never really believed they proved anything and they had the most ridiculous curves ever. I wish that I could have researched more things and my school had a lot of english language learners so I believe this approach would have helped them a lot, because most of theme ended up just dropping out.
3. Marchant, G. J., & Paulson, S. E. (2005). Education policy analysis archives. The Relationship of High School Graduation Exams to Graduation Rates and Sat Scores,13(6), 2-12. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
Summary of Research Report Article: There were a lot of statistics describing how these high stake tests cause more students to drop out. It is also seen that minorities and the poor tend to have a way higher drop out rate than those of majorities and regular income families; causing an endless cycle, makes it seem like there is no way to escape the low income economy.
Reaction to Research Report Article: I was not really all that surprised about what kind of students tend to have the highest dropout rates, and I was not all that surprised that the stress that comes with standardized testing and has increased dropout rate.
Summary of Argumentative Article: A retired teacher who was well honored stated how he quit because he had had just enough with standardized testing and what it has done to education. He gives eleven problems that these tests have created and backs them up with information. One problems included teachers constantly fearing that they are going to lose their jobs and it forces them to feel like they have to teach the children more about how to prepare for the test rather than allowing students to learn more than just getting a good grade it make their teachers look good. Another problem that standardized testing has caused is damaging the imagination and creativity of students.
Reaction toArgumentative Article: I believe that all of these problems have occurred, I even noticed it myself in high school. I felt like the teachers were just constantly pounding information about how to do well on these tests and just telling us the information rather than allowing us to become creative with the information we were learning. It also bothers me how one of the main reasons we keep these tests around is so that the companies that make the tests don't lose money.
Summary of Informative Magazine Article: Explains the psychology behind standardized testing, how stress and anxiety does things to the brain. Studies have shown that since the increase in younger students taking these standardized tests there has been a noticeable increase in bad behavior such as crying, temper tantrums and yelling. As far as older student behavior goes, the stress has caused various health problems ranging from eating disorders, abusing anxiety medications and caffeine, and bad sleep patterns.
Reaction to Informative Magazine Article: I was shocked to see that some people thought that these tests were not the reason for various health problems and behavior problems in students. People get themselves so nervous for these tests because we have always been told that if we do not do well, we will fail for the rest of our lives; there has been way too much pressure associated with these tests and even scientific studies have proven this, something needs to change.
Overall Reaction to Your Research
Overall I learned a lot about how standardized testing affects the graduation rates and stresses of students all around the world. My theory was proven that all throughout our lives we have been given this idea that these test are the most important thing about learning and if we are not successful on these tests, it determines our outcomes for the rest of our lives, which is not a fair accusation for students to be told. The fact that children have lost the ability to be creative and use their imagination is just sad; I just don't understand what happened to actually learning things that interested us, that's what allows people to become passionate about things rather than just going through the motions of life.
How does this research help us identify or refine a strategy to improve schools in Rhode Island?
I believe that if Rhode Island schools understood all of this information and took it into account; students would be able to change how the entire state runs. Students need to be able to feel free to learn what they want, and maybe that could lead to a better and more successful Rhode Island, possibly lowering poverty rates, considering how the highest drop out rates come from minorities and the poor due to the constant lack of creativity allowing the students to never become passionate about learning, they settle for less.
Author: Taylor Lawson
1. Gawthrop, J. (n.d.). Measuring student achievement. A Study of Standardized Testing & Its Effect on Student Learning, 4-28. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
Summary of Academic Journal: This academic Journal gives information about Standardized testing itself, how they are meant to be unbiased tests designed specially to measure student abilities and are used to determine what type of information and skills to include while making a detailed curriculum for students. The author then goes on to explain how these tests can be beneficial for students, he states that without these standardized tests it may be hard for education to progress, it is a crucial part in the college process and understanding the abilities that students naturally have, also showing what teachers may need to improve on and topics that may need to be focused more on. There are also many cons that come with standardized testing as Gawthrop states in his journal, some include: the tests are believed to be more useful for administrators than for the students, and they only measure academic status and knowledge base rather than the student's ability as a whole. A recurring mention throughout the article is that a large reason why Standardized test are so important is because they measure how well the student is going to succeed in a college, hence why some colleges only accept students with a higher SAT grade in order to ensure that their students are going to succeed and maintain the school's reputation. However there are various ways to show ability and success other than test scores, because colleges like to see an active member of society who is committed to their studies and helping those around them. The University of California, Berkeley, between 1981 and 1990, lowered their admission standards, to comply with affirmative action regulation, which caused controversy that students who were more qualified for admission were not being accepted.
Reaction to Academic Journal: I believed that there was a lot of information about the details behind standardized testing which is the needed basis for my research. In order to understand the graduation rates and various other effects on students I must first understand what the controversies are about these kinds of tests and the information to back the arguments up.
2. Robinson, G. (2015, October 30). Nyc schools that skip standardized tests have higher graduation rates. The Hechinger Report. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
Summary of Newspaper Article: Students in New York that are getting out of taking the 5 mandatory standardized tests to graduate are having more success with graduations rates, especially for English Language Learns and special education students. Students are becoming engaged in what they are learning and by allowing them to find things that interest them, they can apply them to topics that are necessary for graduation. They research math logics, science experiments, topics in history and write research papers and lab reports on things they find interesting rather than just forcing them to learn the same old thing that everyone else is learning.
Reaction to Newspaper Article: I liked the turn of events from this article, especially because I am from New York and know how annoying and unreliable the Regents Exams are, I never really believed they proved anything and they had the most ridiculous curves ever. I wish that I could have researched more things and my school had a lot of english language learners so I believe this approach would have helped them a lot, because most of theme ended up just dropping out.
3. Marchant, G. J., & Paulson, S. E. (2005). Education policy analysis archives. The Relationship of High School Graduation Exams to Graduation Rates and Sat Scores, 13(6), 2-12. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
Summary of Research Report Article: There were a lot of statistics describing how these high stake tests cause more students to drop out. It is also seen that minorities and the poor tend to have a way higher drop out rate than those of majorities and regular income families; causing an endless cycle, makes it seem like there is no way to escape the low income economy.
Reaction to Research Report Article: I was not really all that surprised about what kind of students tend to have the highest dropout rates, and I was not all that surprised that the stress that comes with standardized testing and has increased dropout rate.
4. Strauss, V. (2014, April 22). 11 problems created by the standardized testing obsession. Retrieved December 1, 2015, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2014/04/22/11-problems-created-by-the-standardized-testing-obsession/
Summary of Argumentative Article: A retired teacher who was well honored stated how he quit because he had had just enough with standardized testing and what it has done to education. He gives eleven problems that these tests have created and backs them up with information. One problems included teachers constantly fearing that they are going to lose their jobs and it forces them to feel like they have to teach the children more about how to prepare for the test rather than allowing students to learn more than just getting a good grade it make their teachers look good. Another problem that standardized testing has caused is damaging the imagination and creativity of students.
Reaction to Argumentative Article: I believe that all of these problems have occurred, I even noticed it myself in high school. I felt like the teachers were just constantly pounding information about how to do well on these tests and just telling us the information rather than allowing us to become creative with the information we were learning. It also bothers me how one of the main reasons we keep these tests around is so that the companies that make the tests don't lose money.
5. Edelstein, D. (2000, July 12). Tests + stress = problems for students - brain connection. Retrieved December 1, 2015, from http://brainconnection.brainhq.com/2000/07/12/tests-stress-problems-for-students/
Summary of Informative Magazine Article: Explains the psychology behind standardized testing, how stress and anxiety does things to the brain. Studies have shown that since the increase in younger students taking these standardized tests there has been a noticeable increase in bad behavior such as crying, temper tantrums and yelling. As far as older student behavior goes, the stress has caused various health problems ranging from eating disorders, abusing anxiety medications and caffeine, and bad sleep patterns.
Reaction to Informative Magazine Article: I was shocked to see that some people thought that these tests were not the reason for various health problems and behavior problems in students. People get themselves so nervous for these tests because we have always been told that if we do not do well, we will fail for the rest of our lives; there has been way too much pressure associated with these tests and even scientific studies have proven this, something needs to change.
Overall Reaction to Your Research
Overall I learned a lot about how standardized testing affects the graduation rates and stresses of students all around the world. My theory was proven that all throughout our lives we have been given this idea that these test are the most important thing about learning and if we are not successful on these tests, it determines our outcomes for the rest of our lives, which is not a fair accusation for students to be told. The fact that children have lost the ability to be creative and use their imagination is just sad; I just don't understand what happened to actually learning things that interested us, that's what allows people to become passionate about things rather than just going through the motions of life.How does this research help us identify or refine a strategy to improve schools in Rhode Island?
I believe that if Rhode Island schools understood all of this information and took it into account; students would be able to change how the entire state runs. Students need to be able to feel free to learn what they want, and maybe that could lead to a better and more successful Rhode Island, possibly lowering poverty rates, considering how the highest drop out rates come from minorities and the poor due to the constant lack of creativity allowing the students to never become passionate about learning, they settle for less.